Page Length

Page Length
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Image Maps

For presentations that must grab people's attention to be successful, don't make the page longer than the window.

Like the fold in a newspaper, the bottom edge of the browser window will stop some people from reading further. If the page is only as long as the default browser window, your reader will see all that you present in a glance, and won't have to guess about what's below the edge of the window.

Some content must be presented in one screen because the user cannot tell if there's more to be seen below the edge of the window.

This screen from a prototype interface for SunSoft's DriverExpress service has buttons at the bottom that will never be used as they are hidden below the edge of the window.

If you need to present short, clearly segmented chunks of information, you should try to keep your pages short so people won't miss things that fall off the end of the page.

If the content you present is in the form of short, loosely connected blocks, you must depend more heavily on layout and typography to organize your presentation. Keeping pages short will reduce the possibility that a block will be "orphaned" beyond the bottom edge of the browser window.

If your pages present text that people will want to read at length, it's all right to use longer, scrolling pages.

Scrolling the browser window allows a reader to advance in the text with less loss of mental "context" than does following a link. This advantage lasts up to about four screenfuls of text. After that, there is a tendency for people to lose their context, and get frustrated with the mechanism of scrolling, and their inability to keep track of what's elsewhere on the page.

Karl Signell's Reading a Web Page is an example of a page intended to be read, rather than glanced at. The content obviously continues beyond the window.

There is a rhythm established for a reader by your text, typography and layout. Retrieving a new page by clicking on a link introduces a delay that will break that rhythm. This unavoidable pause of a few to many seconds is something that you must take into account when deciding how long a page should be.

As a general rule of thumb, try to make the majority of your pages no longer than one-and-a-half screenfuls of text, and you will probably not get into too much trouble.

If you have doubts, ask for feedback from members of your intended audience.

For printing or saving, provide a separate link to a complete document.

If you have long documents that people will want to print or save in one operation, provide a link to a complete, print- or save-able document, rather than trying to cram lots of content into one page.

Use shorter pages to make your web more maintainable.

If you're going to be changing your documents frequently, it's usually easier to swap several short files than change the middle segments of longer ones. (And if you break something, your whole web isn't out of commission!)

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